Elon Musk announces plans to send private citizens on trip around the moon

Elon Musk announces plans to send private citizens on trip around the moon

Share

Shares

Copy Link

{copyShortcut} to copy
Link copied!

Updated: 11:34 PM EST Feb 27, 2017

Hide TranscriptShow Transcript

WEBVTT HE FIRST PRIVATELY CREWEDQUEST. >> IT IS ONE SMALL STEP FOR MAN.SUMMER: APOLLO 11 WAS THE SPACEFLIGHT THAT LANDED THE FIRST TWOHUMANS ON THE MOON BACK IN 1969.>> ONE GIANT LEAP FOR MANKIND.SUMMER: NOW NEARLY HALF ACENTURY LATER FROM THE SAMELEGENDARY LAUNCHPAD, A TRIP LIKENO OTHER, PLANNED TO THE MOONAND BACK. ELON MUSK WE'VE BEEN APPROACHED: BY PRIVATE INDIVIDUALS, SOTHIS WILL A PRIVATE MISSION WITHPAYING CUSTOMERS.SUMMER: SPACEX CEO ELON MUSK ISNOT YET GIVING OUT THECUSTOMERS' NAMES, AND WOULD ONLYCONFIRM IT IS NO ONE FROMHOLLYWOOD, THAT THEY BOTH KNOWEACH OTHER, HAVE PAID ASIGNIFICANT DEPOSIT, AND AREVERY SERIOUS ABOUT WHAT MUSKSIMPLY REFERRED TO AS THE LUNARORBIT MISISON.ELON MUSK: DO A LONG LOOP AROUNDTHE MOON, BUT THIS WOULD BEAPPROXIMATELY A WEEK LONGMISSION.IT WOULD SKIM THE SURFACE OF THEMOON, GO QUITE A BIT FURTHER OUTINTO DEEP SPACE, AND THEN LOOPBACK TO EARTH. SUMMER: MUSK SAYS THE FALCONHEAVY ROCKET, WHICH IS THREEROCKETS IN ONE, WOULD BLAST OFFFROM KENNEDY'S SPACE CENTER ASEARLY AS LATE NEXT YEAR, ANDALTHOUGH CONFIDENT IT CAN BESUCCESSFUL, HE ADMITS THERE AREALWAYS RISKS, AND THAT HISCUSTOMERS ARE WELL AWARE OFTHEM.ELON MUSK: THERE IS SOME RISKHERE.THEY'RE CERTAINLY NOT NAIVE.WE DO EVERYTHING WE CAN TOMINIMIZE THAT RISK, BUT THEY'RECOMING UP THIS WITH THEIR EYESOPEN.SUMMER: AGAIN THE TWO CUSTOMERS, HAVE PAID A VERY HEFTYDEPOSIT, BUT MUSK MENTIONEDMULTIPLE TIMES THAT NASA WOULDBE GIVEN PRIORITY IF THEYDECIDED THEY WANTED IN ON THEMISSIOAS YOU CAN IMAGINE, THE SPACEXMOON MISSION HAS GENERATED A BIGBUZZ ON OUR FACEBOOK PAGE.MILLIE SAYS "AWESOME.HOW MUCH, ELON?"YEAH, HE HAS NOT TOLD US YET.AND THIS FROM SHELL, "WHERE DO ISIGN UP?"CLINT, WELL, HE IS A LITTLE MORESKEPTICAL.HE WRITES "IT'D BE SIX TO NINEMONTHS OF PLANNING AND PREPAFTER SOMEONE IS CHOSEN, ANDTHEY'RE NOT EVEN SIX MONTHS AWAYFROM BEING READY."AND OF COURSE WE WANT TO HEAR

Elon Musk announces plans to send private citizens on trip around the moon

Elon Musk, the brash inventor and founder of SpaceX, has just announced that he plans to send private citizens on a trip around the moon next year.

The trip would blast off from the Kennedy Space Center’s historic Launch Pad 39B. Musk says the unidentified space adventurers have already paid big money for the trip. The announcement comes as SpaceX struggles to get NASA astronauts off the ground on a relatively short trip to the space station. Once scheduled for 2016, the SpaceX-NASA mission may now be delayed until 2019. But Musk says that won’t keep him from sending the private citizens on the around-the-moon trip next year.